Why “Classic RAG” Breaks on Android
On paper, retrieval-augmented generation is straightforward: embed the query, retrieve the top chunks, stuff them into a prompt, and generate an answer with citations. On Android, that “classic” flow runs into real constraints:
- Latency budgets are tight. Users feel delays instantly, especially inside chat-like UIs.
- Networks are unreliable. RAG becomes brittle when your retrieval depends on a perfect connection.
- Privacy expectations are higher. Users assume mobile experiences are local-first, especially for enterprise or personal data.
- Resources are limited. Battery, memory, and storage don’t tolerate “just cache everything.”
- Cold start is unforgiving. If the first answer is slow or wrong, you lose trust quickly.
So the goal isn’t “RAG everywhere.” The goal is first to find a helpful answer quickly, then to upgrade the grounding when the cloud is available. That’s exactly what a two-tier system provides.
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